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If the goalless draw against West Ham told us anything, it was that Southampton’s once confident strut is now tentatively limping into the new year.
Two goalless draws. Two games of huffing and puffing. Two performances that do not align to the rest of Southampton’s 2020.
But fatigue is setting in and Saints’ spark that’s remained so staunchly lit throughout the year is fizzling out. It shouldn’t come as a surprise or a barren criticism of them. Indeed, under these precarious conditions and within these most sterile of environments, fixture burnout and other mitigating variables were always going to occur.
Southampton and attritional are two words that cannot commonly be used in the same sentence. For the best part of 12 months, they have appeared oxymoronic to one another, such has been the indelible improvements made all over the pitch.
Though Tuesday night’s 0-0 draw with West Ham was exactly that. There would be no effervescent crescendo at any point during the 90 minutes. It was a tough, sometimes turgid, watch and undoubtedly game, to play in. Justifiable reasons for the manner of the display of course come into it – as will be divulged later – but still, it was somewhat jarring to see.
Entangled in the craziest of seasons, Ralph Hasenhuttl must now adapt and refine the team once more to help cope with the overwhelming physical and psychological demands unduly placed onto his players.
Right now, Southampton are wilting and the attacking thrust of Southampton’s sword is suffering most. One goal in the last four matches and none in the previous three underlines how ineffective the attacking quartet within Hasenhuttl’s 4-2-2-2 system has recently been.
With one member of his household having tested positive for COVID-19, Ralph Hasenhuttl’s managerial duties stretched no further than beyond his living room. “Ingzy (Danny Ings) is not in a rhythm and Che (Adams) is a little tired,” confessed the Saints boss afterwards. “The 10’s final finish is not there. But that is definitely part of the game we can develop.”
The tone of Hasenhuttl’s words throughout the Zoom call conveyed a reflective mood. The Austrian understands the burden his players are currently under and the cost of the suffocating winter schedule which has only been accentuated by the truncated pre-season schedule just a few months prior.
Perhaps that explained the reasons behind the affable intonations and glowing terms in how he spoke about his players after the goalless draw. In his taxing, energy expending system, the front four are always going to be the fall guys during turbulent moments within a season. They are expected to be the first line of defence, the first point of contact when pressing high.
The quartet are also at the heart of the side’s PPDA – passes per defensive action – being the second best in the league this year, with opposition team’s making as little as 10 passes (10.16) before Saints provoke a turnover in possession. Only Leeds have pressed more aggressively or with more assertion, but their lowly total of 8.59 can appear slightly skewed given the relatively small sample size of Premier League games.
Southampton’s front four are tasked with setting traps and triggers, sprinting to defenders and exerting instant pressure on the ball. And on the flip side, they are required to burst into large open spaces, covering road-running distances upon transitions. In essence, they are the four swashbuckling players that pave the way for the other seven to follow.
So, once again, it should not come as a surprise.
Southampton’s squad is brimming with, to coin a Hasenhuttl phrase, ‘open-minded players’ – all of whom are selfless with their output. They are not a team that are individualistic or carry passengers. If you want this opinion fortified, you only need to view the game through the prism of Danny Ings’ performance. It was the first time in 54 games that the forward had completed 90 minutes and did not have a shot or touch inside the oppositions box – notwithstanding his first half goal ruled out for offside.
Despite being nowhere near full tilt, Ings continued to track back deep into his own half, seeking to win the ball back and kick-start attacks. Although admirable, the caveat to this is that you’d rather have him on the end of a passage of build-up play than being the one to start it.
The disconnect between midfield and attack was another reason why Ings may have felt so compelled to offer a hand to the defence. Touches in dangerous positions – often situated in the inside left channel where he can be so efficient – were few and far between, meaning he had to seek the ball from its earliest origins. It should be said the absence of Jannik Vestergaard and his mercurial ball-playing capabilities may have proved a determining factor for the lack of fluidity through the thirds.
Hasenhuttl’s own unavailability only heightened matters when it came to needing flashes of inspiration that could pervade onto the pitch. The Austrian’s unparalleled magnetism meant Southampton had no one that could come close to replicating their manager’s presence on the touchline.
Chief executive Martin Semmens did his best from the stands however, and could be heard encouraging and clapping enthusiastically throughout.
Irrespective of Hasenhuttl’s aura not being seen or heard from the sides, this type of performance has bore resemblances to other recent ones. In the 1-1 draw against Arsenal, Southampton were unable to take the handbrake off and snatch three points away from a team, that was reduced to 10 men and ostensibly vulnerable. Two games later, this time against Fulham, there was just three shots attempted in the 90 minutes.
No one expected Southampton to be quite this ball dominant this season. A team that used to almost exclusively prey on turnovers and transitions high up the pitch as their primary source of goals, are now changing the total complexion of how they structure attacks. In fact, Southampton and Burnley are the only two teams yet to score from a fast break this season. The former has also recorded the seventh most passes out of any side.
A consequence of increased ball retention is that Saints’ attacking patterns have to be multi-faceted and more precise with every passing game. As seen over the festive period, opposition team’s are content in sitting in a low to middle block, asking Southampton to break them down. It’s certainly easier said than done.
This writer mentioned how Southampton can add an extra string to their bow through rotations out-wide, growing to the dynamism they had accrued in central areas. Since then the opposite has transpired, with rotations and interplay non-existent and rather prosaic across the width of the pitch.
Aforementioned mitigating factors must come into play. Not only are Saints looking weary and teams are cottoning onto their ideas – something that happens to every team in every Premier League season – they are mostly facing sides with severely more strength in depth.
If you took a snapshot and compared Southampton’s bench to that of West Ham’s, you will be offered a stark reminder into the lack of game-changing powers Hasenhuttl has as reinforcements. Therefore, fresh ingenuity from the sidelines which is so desperately sought-after for any manager, is not always forthcoming (hence why Hasenhuttl often leaves it late when making personnel alterations).
Early season over-performance meant the side were always going to see a decline in their goalscoring metrics. Over the first 12 games of the campaign, Southampton were far and away the league’s biggest overachievers in expected goals (xG). The case in point being the 4-3 victory at Aston Villa, with Ings’ scorching strike and two quintessential James Ward-Prowse free kicks, telling the story concisely.
So, let me repeat, this deteriorating fall in goals scored and chances created should come as no surprise.
In modern day football, every margin is scrutinised and analysed to the extreme, some might say this writer is guilty of. But putting players in positions and areas of the pitch in which they are their most conducive could transform Southampton’s blunt offensive prowess.
Margins as fractional as a player playing on his natural side would allow him to play vertical passes forward with the ball spinning the correct way onto the receiver’s foot, could just make the difference in weaving an attack and prising a bolted defence open.
Take Stuart Armstrong, who has shown an innate propensity to glide in from the right-hand side. While the remit of his job remains the same when he operates from the opposing flank, the simple mechanics of a right-footer playing on the left can create basic flaws within the set-up.
For example, a mechanism defect might be Armstrong’s natural inclination to cut in more regularly and more often, suffocates Southampton’s other midfielders, meaning they get narrower and consequently, the overall make-up of the team becomes rigid.
Though it was evident to the manager and those watching Southampton were running on fumes against West Ham, the approaching games present ample opportunity to evolve and adjust to the external factors currently encompassing them.
You can be sure whatever route Hasenhuttl decides to take, even if he does have to remotely transmit his ideas via a big Zoom call in the auditorium at Staplewood, they will be carried out with the best intentions.
For tactical geeks like myself or for Southampton supporters who continue to be captivated by the evolving playing style of their team, the next few weeks are guaranteed to make for fascinating viewing – unlike the match against West Ham.
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